


Snow-in-summer

by uxiumin



Category: EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Elves, Fairies, LOTR References, M/M, MAMA Era Powers (EXO), Magic, Magical Creatures, Minor Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol, Minor Kim Jongin | Kai/Oh Sehun, Royalty, why did you let me write a thing where I can make LOTR jokes.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 14:16:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20259448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uxiumin/pseuds/uxiumin
Summary: The Spirit of the Forest has its own mysterious ways, so when it opens a flowery path for Minseok, a human soldier, to cross the impassable Sacred Forest and meet a withering Summer King, the human has no other choice but to walk in even if it will change the path of his life, and the Forest, forever.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First thing first; this was HEAVILY influenced by Chen's album "April, and a flower" , Xiumin's station "You", The Princess Mononoke scenery and aesthetic, and The Lord of the Rings, even if the last one is just for a joke or two.
> 
> I do really love all of the things mentioned above, so mixing them together into...this seemed like the right thing to do.  
If you like it, please leave a comment (or two, or three) and a kudo, they will be really really appreciated.

> _ “ _ _ The trees cry out as they die, but you cannot hear them.” _

  * > _quote from_ “The Princess Mononoke”.__

  


Southfield, the largest city of the Human Alliance and it’s capital, lays, as it names suggests, at the southern side of the Sun Island, a massive amount of rock, land and sand encircled by the Wide Sea. It’s a comfortable place to live, even if it’s a little bit crowded, and therefore, noisy, the sea and the numerous small beaches give the city a serene, idyllic look.

Minseok lives in a little apartment, at the top of the very city, that doesn’t mean that he is wealthy, on the contrary, his house is pretty austere and practical, but he chose that specific place to live because the sea looks even more beautiful and mesmerizing from up there, and in a low tide morning he can see the thousands of small isthmus scattered around the coast.

His apartment and that view are two of the little things Minseok managed to choose in his life.

As his father and his grandfather before him, he was forced to follow a military career, he doesn’t mind the physical aspects of it, he even enjoys them, but the whole fighting thing… not his thing at all. Minseok doesn’t want to hurt others, even if those others are giant evil demons, he doesn’t want to go to a war, he doesn’t want to kill, and moreover he doesn’t have a reason or a will to do it, he has nothing to fight for. But the family pressure is bigger and heavier than his own desires.

Minseok took off the plated shiny helmet, black hair falling over his sweaty forehead, but he divides it in two, elegantly, with a single motion of his hand, the rest of his battalion mates are doing the same thing, getting rid of his protections and armors, lying on the ground, regaining their breaths. They’ve been walking the whole evening since they parted from Southfield, north into the Sun Island. There have been an overflowing amount of reports about gigantic beasts coming from the Sacred Forest, erupting in the middle of villages, destroying everything under their feet, the first reports talked about dragons, but the last dragons left the Sun Island centuries ago.

These have to be demons from the Forest.

The Sacred Forest is a prohibited territory for the humans, no one knows firmly what lives inside, but humans know something for sure; within the tall and lush trees there lays an incredible magical power, enough to maintain the whole Forest protected from outsiders. And is not a small forest, it occupies half of the north side of the Sun Island, from the Typhoon Coast to the Diamond Peak, where the hardworking dwarves live, almost at the center of the island, clearly visible from Southland.

There are thousands of stories and legends about The Sacred Forest; merciful fairies, ruthless beasts and whimsical spirits, but no human dares to enter. Ever. The ones who tried never came back.

The battalion camped outside that night, under the starry sky Minseok wished to be in his bed instead, hearing the sea and the soft murmur of passersby, instead of the loud voices of other soldiers and the occasional neighing of a horse. He woke up, unable to sleep, and decided to take a walk. Minseok didn’t wear his armor or helmet, but he grabbed his sword and a little dagger, placed inside one of his boots.

Some companions asked him to sit with them and grab an ale, to share stories and jokes, but Minseok politely rejected them, not that he is against some drinking and bonding with other soldiers, but he feels a nervousness inside, something tickling, a bad omen floating in the air that would only grow worse with the alcohol.

He walked outside the little camp they managed to set few hours ago, until he couldn’t hear the chatting and the laughing, then he realized that he had been walking towards the very borders of the Sacred Forest. It was mesmerizing to watch, like the sea, a dark green ocean under the Moon, made of leaves and branches that grew without an apparent rhyme or reason, and a flower path in the middle.

_ A path? _ , Minseok thought, _ There are no paths into The Sacred Forest. _

But there it was, exactly where his feet had stopped motioning a minute ago, small white flowers formed a road, the first meters were clearly visible from the outside, but it was soon lost inside the darkness of the forest, like it was calling him, inciting his eagerness. Minseok wondered if he should, if he can, he had always been a curious person, but maybe this was off limits.

“....winter” — a voice from inside the forest whispered. Minseok drew his sword, quickly taking a defensive position.

“Who is there?” — he asked in a loud voice, without a single stuttering.

“...w...inter” — he certainly heard again.

“Winter?” 

Minseok looked inside the forest from the beginning of the flowery path, the darkness and the leafiness of the forest didn’t help at all, he took a few steps inside the woods, but the voice didn’t spoke back, he was alone. Minseok decided to go back, he probably imagined that voice, exhausted from all the walking, but when he wanted to leave the forest it closed right before his amazed eyes. The trees moved its branches and trunks, a portion of the path vanished under his feet, like it had never been there, the wind howled across the hollow trunks and leaves, creating the feeling that Minseok wasn’t alone.

And maybe he wasn’t.

He only had one choice, move forward, and so he did. His sword still on his right hand, walking carefully, looking twice at every leave or rock with his cat like eyes, but at some point he even doubted his very eyes, the shapes and colors twisting with the pale moonlight, shadows long and scary. _ A nightmare _ , he thought, _ this might be a nightmare. _

The unceasing murmur of water caught his ears by surprise, he quickly jogged in that way, searching for the source of said noise; _ At least I won’t die of dehydration _, he reasoned a little relieved.

The flowery path drove him that way, and after a few sips from the purest water he ever had, Minseok hiked upstream. He catched a glimpse of a few birds, hares and even a deer from far away, if there was food to catch he would be alright, but the thought of some ancient beast getting angry at him for eating one of his animal friends scared him deeply.

The stream seemed endless, constantly turning and cascading, like a serpent. The path kept going alongside the stream, eerie and completely surreal. Like they’ve been placed specifically there, the more into the Forest the more flowers the path grew, it started with some shy white flowers, but now it had spring on full display: pink and blue geranium bushes at the sides, cohorting him, while the bed of the road was full of daisies, thyme and bright blue lobelias. 

Soon after, the path changed.

Minseok was so focused on following the path that he forgot about the rest of the scenery. His ears registered the change, the stream murmur was now distant, and replacing it he could only hear the happy chirping of some birds, echoing through the woods. The sunlight was starting to filter across the leaves at the top, creating a green and golden soft glow, the way up here must’ve looked like a nightmare, but Minseok was convinced that this was a dream. The stream with his small cascades transformed into a still lake, full of little green islands covered in such a vivid grass that it looked like a carpet, the tree trunks were coated in moss and some branches had fruit on them, so heavy that they touched the water, like the tree was drinking directly from the lake, but what had Minseok completely dazed was the gigantic tree in the middle of the lake, in its own green island. From down there only a portion of the trunk was visible, it’s top and higher leaves must touch even the sky, only for birds and other flying creatures to see, luxuriant, imposing… and alive. Every tree is alive, but this one felt alive like a person, like it was directly staring at Minseok.

There was no way to get to the giant tree without getting soaked, so Minseok took his boots off and rolled up his pants almost till his knees, he soon discovered that the lake was deeper and colder than what he had imagined, but he kept going anyway, with his boots over his head. When he reached the first island, a new path of flowers grew under his feet, like the Forest was asking him to keep going._ Snow-in-summer _, Minseok thought watching closely to the carpet of white flowers under his drenched feet.

He looked around the lake and the islands, searching for the rest of the path to show up, but he only saw another tiny white flower on the biggest island, under the colossal tree, like the flower was calling for him. Minseok soaked his legs again, slowly walking against the current and the dark waters, the lake was even deeper now, soaking him over his knees this time, at least with the fresh water he didn’t feel his legs as tired. He reached the island, a little worn out, lying on the grass alongside the tiny white flower.

“What do you want from me?” — he whispered to the flower, as soon as the words vanished in the air, it disappeared. Minseok sat up quickly, at this rate he was already used to the magical and weird stuff the forest likes to pull out, but this left an uneasy feeling inside him, like he was no longer welcomed.

He looked around once again, looking for a new path, for a new signal to keep him going across the Forest, instead he found a hole. There was a hole inside the trunk of the colossal tree, the size of a person, the wind howled across it like a hungry wolf in the night, like it did when he realized that he was trapped inside The Sacred Forest. _ This can’t be a coincidence, _ Minseok thought, getting up, already wearing his boots again.

The hole was dark and long like a hallway, it didn’t look natural, more like someone had carved it, and Minseok only managed to see that there was light at the end, if there were any beasts or angry gods at the end of the wooden hall he was about to find out the hard way, with his sword drew again, taking one step at a time and his heart going crazy inside his chest.

When he reached the other side he didn’t found what he expected, there was no ominous monster, no ancient beast or angry whatsoever, inside the tree there was a clearing, the floor covered in grass like the little islands from the lake, the inside walls of the colossal tree carefully enveloped in moss and morning-glory with its blue and purple flowers in full display, while at the top the low branches of the tree formed a natural dome, that delicately filtered the sunlight. And in the middle of that room, a divan.

Minseok had to look twice to believe his own eyes, because lying asleep on the elegant gold and white divan, there was a man sleeping tightly. He looked so peaceful, and unarmed, so Minseok drew his sword while approaching carefully to the man. Their clothes made a drastic contrast; black and blue, fitted, made to endure combat, to represent the Human Alliance. While the other were beige and white, comfortable and warm looking, but what specially stood out from what he wore was the headpiece; the tiara placed delicately on his forehead, like branches from a tree, laurel leaves, golden berries and a few straws of gold circled his head leading into the sun shaped centerpiece, where an orange sunstone gleamed unbothered.

Minseok found himself in absolute awe, it was his first time seeing an elf. He has seen dwarves and halflings before, but even if they are all very different from the human race, elves don’t even look real. He even used to thought that elves weren’t genuine, that they left the Sun Island as the dragons did. He is not really sure if every elf is this outstandingly beautiful, or if it’s just this one, but if someone told him now that this moment is a dream Minseok wouldn’t be surprised. 

The morning light that enters in the room across the leaves at the branch dome bath the elf gingerly, his skin has a faint golden shimmer going from his sharp jaw and cheeks to his noticeable pointy ears below that soft looking hair. The elf shifted his slumber position, startling Minseok, who only then realized that he was looking way too close, being rude, and kind of creepy, for every race in the Sun Island.

The human soldier decided to leave exactly when the elf opened his eyes, Minseok froze in place, not really knowing what to do, should he bow? If the elf is wearing a crown he must be some kind of royalty, but would that be rude, he doesn’t know a single thing about elves or their culture…

“Who are you?” — a silvery voice broke Minseok thoughts in half. “How did you get here?”

Minseok turned to look at the elf again, his deep brown eyes looking attentively at him, scrutinizing in a curious way his clothes, his weapons, his face… “I… don’t really know.”

“You don’t know the answer to any of those questions?” — the elf arched a brow, still piercing Minseok with his gaze.

“My name is Minseok. I’m a Sergeant at the Human Alliance army” — In the end, Minseok decided to bow, at least he won’t be called rude.

“You didn’t answer the second question, Minseok” — the elf crossed his legs, still sitting at the divan, asking with a funny tone.

“I’m afraid I did. I don’t really know.” — Minseok tried to explain himself better. “I entered the forest, following a path, and when I wanted to get out I couldn’t, the trees blocked the way, I had no other choice but to follow the path.”

The elf hummed after hearing Minseok’s explanation. “Do you always follow mysterious paths inside huge scary forests, Sergeant?”

“I had no other choice” — Minseok saw the mischievous smile across the elf’s face, he was having fun interrogating him. “I’m afraid I don’t know who I’m talking with.”

The elf stood up from the divan, he looked completely regal. “I’m the Summer King, ruler of the Sacred Forest and everything that lives within it. That’s everything you need to know.”

Minseok bowed again quickly. “I’m sorry, Your Grace. I didn’t know…”

“That I was a King? That this place had a King in the first place?” — the King laughed softly. “I can tell, don’t worry.” The King approached Minseok, placing one of his hands under his chin, lifting up the human’s head. “No one calls me Your Grace, or anything like that, I’m nothing like your Human Kings.”

“You subjects don’t address you like a King?” — Minseok asked completely dazed out, by the hand, the words, the way the elf laughed… everything to be honest.

“They don’t need to, I prefer it that way. They know I am their King, and come to me searching for advice, solutions or to give me headaches, I’m guessing your King gets those three things a lot too.” — the elf smiled sitting again on his divan.

“I don’t know, you are the first King I’ve ever met.” — Minseok answered shrugging his shoulders, owning a resounding laugh from the Summer King.

“This is a first time for both, then. You are the first human I’ve ever met.”

“Nice to meet you, so” — Minseok replied with a sincere smile.

“Likewise” — the King answered with a little head nod. “So, Minseok, you were talking about a mysterious path that led you here.”

“A flowery path, to be precise” — Minseok answered quickly. “When I reached the lake at the entrance it was more like a carpet of flowers, though.”

“What flowers?” — the King asked in a more serious expression.

“... Snow-in-summer” — Minseok answered cautiously.

The King remained impassible for a minute only his eyes showed the concern in whatever he was musing inside his head. “Nothing happens inside this realm without a reason” — he finally said. “If the forest let you inside the Spirit might’ve wanted something from you.”

“Maybe he wanted us to meet..” — Minseok said almost whispering. The King smiled warmly.

“Maybe.” — he sighed. “But why?. I can’t control everything The Forest does, the Spirit of the Forest has its own mysterious ways and there’s nothing I can do about it, after all I’m just the Summer King, I protect the Forest with my power, and I’m always replenishing the mana from the core of the Forest, it’s a tiring job, and from time to time the Forest decides on its own that he wants to grow a new tree in the middle of an empty meadow, or that the lakes aren’t big enough, or that a human inside would be a great idea.”

“It sounds… exhausting.”

“That’s exactly the word.” — the King sighed again, now that Minseok talked to him for a while he realized that the elf looked tired, sounded tired and probably was terribly tired. “I can’t do this work alone for too much longer…”

“There’s no one you can delegate?” — Minseok asked politely, while the King denied with his head.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be talking about this matters to you, don’t take offense, but you aren’t part of The Forest.” — The King quickly dismissed the topic.

“I understand” — Minseok replied with some uneasy feeling inside. “May I ask if there is any way out of the Forest?” 

The Summer King gave him that warm smile again. “Of course there is. I can open one for you.”

“Thank you, that would be really helpful” — The King stood up, walking towards the hole while pointing Minseok to follow him, the Summer King walked over the waters without soaking himself or his clothes, every step he took over the cold waters a patch of grass appeared under his feet, keeping him dry.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you get soaked this time.” — the King smiled, with a single motion of his hand the carpet of snow-in-summer appeared again, always one step ahead from Minseok’s feet.

“That would have been great when I first got here.” — Minseok whispered, not wanting to sound bitter but the elf heard anyway and chuckled.

They walked across the lake, until they reached the other bank of the dark waters, then a strong wind came from the depths of the forest, the deep brown eyes of the elf now gleamed, iridescent, gold and green, summoning his powers to open a way across the trees that obeyed his will like a dog would obey his master.

“Just follow this less flowery path” — the King pointed out the way with a hand. “At the other side your battalion waits.”

“Thank you” — Minseok answered really meaning it. “I… I still don’t know how or why I ended up here...but… this was probably the weirdest and most amazing moment of my entire life.”

The King laughed sincerely, taken by complete surprise. “It was wonderful for me too, a complete discovering.”

“A discovering?”

“Here, inside The Sacred Forest, we have the belief that humans are just a bunch of brutes that just want war and money. I’m glad to have met at least one good human.”

“Can’t blame you” — Minseok shrugged. “There are a lot of humans like that. And we don’t even know what lives inside this place, too scared to care.” — they both chuckled in unison.

“We are even, then” — The King nodded softly.

“Goodbye, Summer King.” — Minseok whispered, walking away from the elf.

“Wait.” — the elf took a snow-in-summer from the flower carpet, under his touch he made it turn gold. “A gift. If you ever want, or need, to come back, take a petal from it, as soon as you do it you’ll be here in the blink of an eye.”

Minseok took the flower with care, such a beautiful little thing. “Why are you doing this?” 

“As you said, we still don’t know why the forest lured you in, who knows, the Sacred Forest works in enigmatic ways.” 

“Thank you, Summer…”

“Jongdae” — the elf cut Minseok’s words abruptly. “My name is Jongdae.”

“Thank you, Jongdae” — Minseok took a few steps away, into the path Jongdae created for him while securing the flower inside the little pouch he wore as a part of his uniform.

“See you soon” — Jongdae whispered, watching the human vanish while the trees and the leaves closed again the path, forming a green and brown barrier between the two of them.

━━━━━━🌾━━━━━━

Minseok kept walking and walking across the northern side of the Sun Island the whole day and the day after that, he was completely exhausted and everything he wanted was to take off his heavy armor chest, helmet and shield and take off a petal from the golden flower inside his pouch. His mind was traveling back and forth to a certain place inside the Sacred Forest and back to the current field he was walking, to the glimmer in Jongdae’s skin and his sharp jaw to the stones and land he was hiking over, to the musical laugh of the King to the constant chattering of the other soldiers around him.

While his mind flied a different direction than his feet, the battalion arrived the village they were supposed to save, only to find ruins, destroyed houses and cottages, the whole scenery smelt like death and fire. There was no one to be found, probably the villagers that survived this horror left, to another villages, or to the Capital, where these things are completely uncommon events. The battalion was divided in two smaller groups to comb the terrain easily and faster, searching for any survivors or corpses, that was everything they could do at this rate.

A loud scream erupted from nowhere, freezing the blood of everyone around, it echoed across the remains of the village like an arrow would cut the air.

“Demon!” — the voice yelled again. “The demon is awake!”

Soon, the yell disappeared along with the owner of said voice under the weight of a colossal four legged creature, as tall as building, made of pure rock with occasional patches of fur similar to a bear, with the antlers of a red deer atop of his head and the fangs of a grey wolf. His eyes and the whirlwind marks across his stone body shimmered green, like Jongdae’s eyes when he opened the path. Minseok really tried not to disengage from the battlefield, to take out his mind from inside the Forest, he took a long breath to regain his courage.

“Archers!” — Minseok yelled. “Aim for the eyes!” 

The archers obeyed as soon as they could, the stone beast was colossal, imposing, terrifying, and it won’t be easy to kill either. Every step he took felt like an earthquake, huge and heavy paws getting into the earth as easily as you would spread butter over a toast. Its yells and cries could disheart the bravest warrior.

The beast shifted all of his weight towards the archers, with a single movement of his paw blowed away half of the detachment.

“The fur spots!” — Minseok signaled to the few archers still standing. “He might’ve have skin under the fur” —_ I hope he does _, Minseok wished deeply.

The archers aimed once again, hitting jackpot to Minseok’s utter delight, but the arrows nailed into his skin only infuriated the beast more, soldiers with hiking equipment were trying to climb to the beast’s back, to cut open its skin with his swords and spears, but the abrupt movements of the creature only made the job more and more difficult. Its antlers plowed the earth and whatever it was standing on it, the battlefield was a nightmare full of destruction and yells. Minseok wanted to help, but his feet froze facing the horror.

After another charge of the creature several stones flew, remainings of the stone houses that not so long ago formed a village, hitting Minseok on the head severely.

Minseok didn’t lose his consciousness completely, but he did faint for a minute or two, enough for the beast to place itself over Minseok, he felt so small and insignificant under such a beast, even wearing his helmet the stone hit him so strongly that blood started falling from his forehead blocking his right eye vision.

_ I’m going to die _, he reasoned absolutely terrified.

The creature moved one of his huge limbs to squash Minseok under it, but Minseok moved quickly, the only advantage of being smaller than his enemy, avoiding the crushing but getting a stake nailed into his abdomen, thanks to the trembling the beast’s paw created.

Minseok left a loud yell came from inside his throat, the pain was so utter, so much inside of him that he could feel himself vanishing slowly under the warmth of his own blood.

The demon tried again, Minseok saw in slow motion how the beast moved his limb again, he could hear the cries of other soldiers, the trembling of the earth, the whisper of the Forest inside his ears once again.

“...winter.”

Minseok used all of his remaining strength to open his pouch, the flower was still there, shining like the Sun in a summer day.

When the paw of the beast touched the ground, Minseok was already gone.

  
  


━━━━━━🌾━━━━━━

  


“We are still on summer, my season, and I’m already losing control of the Sacred Guardians” — Jongdae explained. “I won’t make it until the next spring like this.”

“Don’t say that” — Baekhyun tried to calm the elf. “We still have mana left.”

“Not that much.” — Jongdae sighed heavily. “The sacred guardians and the barrier are consuming too much… and I have barely nothing left. We have been avoiding this problem for too long, Baekhyun.”

“Then, what we should do?” — Baekhyun asked, with a nervous tone on his usually cheery voice. “We can’t let the Forest unprotected.”

“I know…” — Jongdae laid his back on the white divan, with a worried expression. The last three days, every time his mind was clouded with problems his thoughts run away towards a certain human, with his gummy smile and cat eyes. It gave the Summer King a bit of relief knowing that the human has the golden flower in its power, able to return whenever he wanted. _ A little of mana well-used _, he thought.

Just like the universe was hearing him, a sudden light blinded Jongdae and Baekhyun.

“What?!” — Baekhyun yelled

Jongdae walked towards the light, hoping that Minseok came back to him, and indeed it was Minseok what he found, but the human was dying in front of his very eyes. “Minseok!” - the elf screamed.

“Who is this? A human?” — Baekhyun asked completely dazed out.

“Baekhyun, call Yixing, quickly.” — Jongdae ordered with a deep voice, Baekhyun simply nodded, two pairs of translucent wings opened at his back, the fairy quickly vanished, flying as fast as he could.

“Minseok, do you hear me?.” — Jongdae asked nervously, the only answer from Minseok was a profound mumble, his eyes opened and closed slowly, fluttering. Jongdae knelt besides the human, grabbing his face between his two hands, getting his clothes and hands stained in human blood, the green and golden iridescence from his eyes came back, Jongdae was using his mana to hold Minseok’s blood in place until Yixing arrived. “Don’t close your eyes, Minseok, you need to stay awake.”

“J-Jong…” — Minseok coughed heavily, his throat wasn’t answering as he wished.

“Don’t talk, there is no need.” — Jongdae kept using his mana when he heard the flutter of fairy wings entering the tree. “Yixing!”

The next thing Minseok heard was another voice, sweet and caring, telling him to rest, and Minseok felt happy to comply.

━━━━━━🌾━━━━━━

Something was burning Minseok’s skin, from inside, like something wanted desperately to come out of him, like a poison rotting him directly from the core. Minseok doesn’t remember waking up and going back to unconsciousness at least four times since he appeared in the clearing more dead than alive four days ago, thus when he finally woke up everything looked brand-new for him, the room, the faces, his bruises.

Two...people? Were looking at him attentively, he doesn’t recognize any of them, just by their faces, but he does recognize that sweet like honey voice when the brown caramel haired man talked to him.

“How are you feeling?” — he asked almost whispering, a shy smile showed up in his face displaying a dimple that made him look even more friendly.

“Better now…” — Minseok tried to sit up on the bed, but the weight of his own body surprised him, luckily Yixing was there to help him.

“Don’t overdo yourself” — Yixing recommended, his words were kind but his tone stern. “You’ll be feeling weak for a few days.”

“Thank you” — Minseok smiled sincerely to him. “For everything, actually, I remember hearing your voice…”

“Four days ago? I arrived as soon as I could. My name is Yixing.” — he nodded with his head politely.

“I’m sure you already know, but I’m Minseok.” 

“And I’m Baekhyun, thank you all for acknowledging me” — the pink haired man spoke loudly. “I was the one who called Yixing, I was at the Mother Tree with Jongdae.”

“Oh, thank you so much then” — Minseok sincerely thanked him. “This might be rude, but, what are you two? Elves?”

Baekhyun laughed heartily. “Elves? We don’t have pointy ears” — Baekhyun answered pointing at his completely normal ears. “Try again, I’ll give you a clue.” — Baekhyun opened his vitreous wings once again. Slim and long, apparently feeble but sharp at the same time, they looked like dragonfly wings.

“... a fairy?” — Minseok cautiously answered.

“Exactly” — Baekhyun answered, clapping. “His head is still working, you did a great job, Xing.”

Yixing smiled and nodded softly at the praising. “Thank you.”

“But I thought that fairies were small, I thought they fitted in your hand..:” — Minseok kept saying.

“Oh, I was wrong, something is not working inside his head” 

“Well, Baekhyun is not that tall..:” — Yixing whispered, making Minseok laugh softly.

The pink haired fairy let out a loud gasp after hearing the other fairy whispering. “How you dare!”

“I can hear Baekhyun being offended from the Mother Tree” — Jongdae’s voice showed up from behind the fairy.

“That’s thanks to your pointy elf ears” — Baekhyun roasted Jongdae.

“Glad to see that you are awake and alive, Minseok, you gave me a great shock.” — Jongdae directed his deep brown eyes to Minseok.

“Thanks to you, without the flower…” 

“Don’t think about it” — Jongdae sat at the verge of the bed, closer to Minseok. “I’m glad that you used it.”

“Yixing” — Baekhyun spoke again. “Have you told Minseok what you did to save him?.”

“I was about to.” — Yixing nodded, with his eyebrows furrowed. “Minseok, you were severely injured, the head bruise was easy to heal, but the abdomen one… you lost a lot of blood, in order to save you I had to gave you fairy blood.”

“Fairy blood?” — Minseok was astonished. “What does that mean?”

“Well… you are only partially human now, fairy blood is stronger than human blood, so it's probably taking control of your body while we speak.” — Yixing explained as kindly as he could.

“... I’m...going to...have wings?” — Minseok asked, actually a little scared.

“Probably” — Baekhyun answered moving his four translucent wings. “Yixing, show him yours!” - the pink haired fairy demanded cheerly, while the other, a little embarrassed moved his two bug-like wings. They were smaller, a little rounder with a ochre tone at the ends.

“Bumblebee wings” - Yixing explained.

The human was astonished, when he first entered the Sacred Forest he realized that It was like a another world, magical, eerie and mysterious. But now, watching the two fairies, and knowing that soon he would be like them, wings and all, he realized that it was a world of light too, full of new things to understand. A part of him was eager to know more, while the other remained cautious, but his body was starting to warn him, this was too much to drink in just one sip. Minseok felt dizzy for a second, after all last time he was conscious a colossal beast almost kills him.

“Are you okay” — Jongdae asked again. “You look dizzy.”

“It’s a lot to take in” — Minseok touched his own head trying to make everything to stop spinning. “I don’t even know where I am.” — he muttered looking at the round room where they were. Plants and tiny glass jars filled with shimmering liquids in different colors hanged from the walls and the ceiling, where a big chandelier alongside tiny flickering lights were hanging. The window near to the bed showed more trees and vegetation, suddenly a kid passed by, flying with a pair of big butterfly wings.

“You are still inside the Sacred Forest, you are now on the Fairy Village.” — Baekhyun explained. “Let me introduce myself again, I am Baekhyun, ruler of the fairies.”

“Ruler of the fairies?” — Minseok asked.

“We are under the reign of the Summer King, I’m like a… town major or something like that.” — Baekhyun explained quickly. “Soon I’ll be your major too” — Baekhyun kept talking, wiggling his eyebrows in a funny way.

Minseok chuckled softly. “Glad to meet you, ruler of the fairies.”

“Aren’t you mad?” — Jongdae asked. “We changed you forever…”

Minseok mused the question inside his brain. “I’m not mad. I’m feeling a lot of things right now, I’m overwhelmed and tired, but I’m not mad at any of you, you did what you had to in order to save me. If something, I’m grateful.”

“Well, we have so much to show you around, and so many people to introduce you to! You need to meet Sehun…” — Baekhyun started rambling, when Yixing cut him out.

“That’ll have to wait, he needs to rest.” — Yixing grabbed Baekhyun’s shoulders on his hands. “Maybe tomorrow the fairy blood will finally settle, and he would be able to walk, but right now we should leave and let him eat and rest.”

“You are all so kind, thank you so much” — Minseok thanked them again.

“Don’t need to, you are at my house, by the way, if you need anything I'm downstairs” — Yixing commented while getting Baekhyun out of the room with him, Jongdae got up from the bed, looking at Minseok.

“I’m really glad that you are alive, Minseok.” — the expression in his eyes was tired, but sincere. “If you’d died right there in the Mother Tree… I would’ve lost my mind.”

“Don’t say such things, I didn’t die after all.” — Minseok shrugged his shoulders trying to diminish relevance to the matter. “I’m here and I’m turning a fairy, so I guess that I’m part of your realm now.”

Jongdae smiled softly at the realization, he was wearing blue clothes today, akin in manufacturing, but the soft blue color fitted him even better than the white and beige. “Minseok” — the smile vanished from his face. “How… did you get so injured?”

“We had a mission.” — Minseok felt a bitterness creeping up his throat remembering how many lives of soldiers and civilians were lost at the battlefield, anguish tickling inside at the sight of the beast. “A demon made of rock assaulted a village, it destroyed everything, even me… almost” — Minseok added a tiny smile.

Jongdae’s eyes opened in horror. “It wasn’t a demon made of rock. It was a Sacred Beast”

“A Sacred Beast?” — Minseok asked back.

“I’ll tell you when you are feeling a little better, you should take Yixing’s advice and rest.” — Jongdae walked towards the stairs outside the round bedroom, after a longing look and a sad smile, the Summer King left.

Minseok was really tired after all, maybe the fairy food that Yixing left on the bedside table had an effect on him, whatever the reason even with all the secrets, new information, and the bitterness inside his mouth after the elf left, he managed to sleep tightly, dreaming about wings, fairies and the window to the sea he had left behind.

  


━━━━━━🌾━━━━━━

“Where is Yixing?” — Jongdae asked without even looking at Baekhyun entering the Mother Tree.

“Taking care of your human. Half human, half fairy… you know, Minseok” - Baekhyun answered half laughing, handing the elf a glass jar with a green liquid inside. “How did you know it was me?”

“Those big wings of yours, they are noisy” — Jongdae smiled grabbing the jar and opening it. “There is more than usual.”

“He knows that you used some mana to maintain the human alive.” — Baekhyun said almost whispering. “Did Minseok confirmed your suspicions?”

Jongdae simply nodded. “I’m withering. I’m losing control, the Sacred Guardians attacked that village, killed humans and almost ended with Minseok, because I don’t have enough power to control them anymore.” Baekhyun noticed the anguish, the despair in Jongdae’s voice. When his friend was crowned as Summer King, twenty years ago, he was powerful, full of life, radiant. Twenty years are nothing in the lifespan of an elf, but Jongdae looks so exhausted, drained, as he said, withering alongside the summer. He had been taking care of the realm on his own for twenty years, a position made for two rulers, it had been too much.

“You’ve drained yourself. The Forest has.” — Baekhyun patted his friend’s back fondly. “Drink the mana potion and go to sleep, I’ll get some help”


	2. Chapter 2

  
  
_   
_

> _ Each flower petal is blossoming _
> 
> _ Just like the cold and frozen season suddenly melts _
> 
> _ The spring I’ve been waiting for is blooming again _
> 
> _ 움츠려 있던 꽃잎이 하나둘 피어온다 _
> 
> _ 차갑게 얼어붙은 계절이 어느새 녹아내리듯 _
> 
> _ 기다린 봄날에 다시 피어온다 _
> 
>   
** _   
_ **

  * > lyrics from _“Flower_”, by Chen.

  
  
  


The next day Minseok had plenty of visits at Yixing’s house, Baekhyun came back talking for hours about fairies and what being a fairy meant, habits, traditions, everything a newbie like him should know, at some point into the lecture he felt like a kid, learning to write and read again from scratch, but he was really thankful for Baekhyun’s cheerful and detailed explanations.

After some more fairy food with Yixing, his bumblebee doctor decided that it was about time that Minseok tried to walk, after all his legs weren’t injured, and he had been lying on a bed for five days. Together, sometimes Minseok needed to grab Yixing’s arm, they took a small stroll across the Fairy Village.

Minseok found himself bathed in wonder, the fairies aren’t what human tales and legend says, small like a button, selfish and mischievous, but their cities definitely are, overgrown flowers, grass and tiny lights everywhere, houses built in trees like giant doll houses, watching other fairies Minseok wondered what kind of wings he will have, or if he will develop any type of “superpower” like Yixing, his ability to heal others is outstanding owning him a deserved reputation.

“That is the Mother Tree?” — Minseok dared to ask, pointing at the giant tree at the other side of the river bank.

Yixing nodded. “What you see under the Mother Tree is the Elvish village, back in the day both villages started on their own, but today it doesn’t matter anymore, there are elves living on this side of the Forest and there are fairies living there as well, once you feel like it, you can choose where you want to live.”

“I don’t want to bother you, I’ll move as soon as I can, I promise” — Minseok politely answered.

“Oh, no, you can stay as much as you want to, Minseok. And I would prefer having you around at least until your wings came out, is going to be painful.” — Yixing tried to soften the news with a small smile.

“I figured as much… is it going to hurt a lot?”

“You want the soft truth or the real truth?”

“The real truth.”

“Remember when you had a stake nailed into your abdomen?” — Minseok nodded, warily of the upcoming bad news. “That much, but twice and in your back.”

Forgetting about the wings issue — Minseok hopes that his wings take their time in coming out — they came back to Yixing’s house. Minseok was tired but relieved to know that he is recovering so fast, probably thanks to the fairy blood running inside his veins.

He hasn’t completely absorbed the idea of being a fairy, it’s not like changing your nationality or moving to another town, is changing your race, he never had to think about what ‘being a human’ meant, he simply was, and suddenly he had to rethink everything he took for granted for so long.

Looking over the window his eyes fell on the Mother Tree again, imposing, what if he had elf blood, would he had grown pointy ears? Would he had that same dignified look Jongdae has?.

“Do you want to see him?” — Yixing asked, entering the room. “I mean Jongdae”

Minseok nodded. “But he is probably busy, and I don’t want to be a bother.”

“I’m sure you aren’t, he looks less tired when you are around.”

“Yixing” — Minseok wanted to know, but he didn’t want to ask Jongdae, he didn’t want to burden the elf with his questions, even if he is sure that something weird is going on inside the Forest. “Why is Jongdae so tired?”

Yixing looked at Minseok with a weird expression in his gentle eyes. “Has he told you anything? About the Forest, his title...”

Minseok denied with his head. “Not directly, but… the first time we met he said something weird that I didn’t understand.”

Yixing sighed. “Where should I start…” — running his hand over his brown hair, Yixing sat on Minseok’s bed, like a parent about to tell his kid an awful truth. “The Sacred Forest always had two rulers, two Kings, two Queens, a King and a Queen… it doesn’t matter to us, as long as it’s two, like the Sun reigns over the day, and the Moon over the night. The Summer King reigns during the months of spring and summer, during the harvests and the bloomings, the Winter King rules over autumn and winter, during the natural decay of things and the snow.

Both have the mission of protecting the realm, maintaining the barrier and the Sacred Guardians — you already know them, one almost kills you — feeding the Forest with enough mana, and counseling everyone that lives within. As you now know it's a lot of work for just one ruler, that’s why we need two, while one is in its season to rule the other rests, waiting for his season to start, replenishing his mana and helping the other ruler with the little things.”

Minseok nodded understanding, now everything was in it place. “Where is the Winter King? Why is Jongdae ruling alone?.”

“Those are really good questions.” — Yixing sadly smiled.

“We don’t know where he is, but we need him desperately.” — Baekhyun’s voice erupted in the middle of the room.

“Do you know about knocking?” — Yixing asked, arching a brow, his wings buzzing softly as every time he got pissed.

“I yelled when I entered!” — Baekhyun complained. “Going back to the main topic, Jongdae is withering, summer is ending, and that means that his season is ending too, he has been ruling over winter and summer non-stop for twenty years, he is at his very limit.”

“He won’t make it alive to the next spring…” — Yixing whispered.

Minseok felt a huge pressure inside his chest after the fairies words. “How can we find the Winter King?” 

“We don’t…” — Yixing answered.

“I called the Elementals…” — Baekhyun told Yixing as a sudden confession.

“You did what?” — Yixing rolled his eyes, owning a square smile from Baekhyun as a sorry.

“I know, I know, every time they come together it’s a complete mess, but we are going to need them.” — Baekhyun tried to calm Yixing. “Jongdae is losing control of the Sacred Guardians, they can go berserker any second, and we shouldn’t be wasting any mana from the Mother Tree, so I called them as a protection.”

“That sounds really professional coming from you” — Yixing stated, more relieved.

“Hey! Give me some credit, I’m the fairy boss after all.” — Baekhyun joked.

“Sorry…” — Minseok whispered. “But, what is an Elemental.”

“Oh, right, you don’t know.” — Baekhyun facepalmed himself. “They are alchemical beings with human bodies, created by the Spirit of the Forest itself to manage the elements, there are four: the Gnome, the Undine, the Sylph and the Salamander.”

“Earth, water, wind and fire” — Yixing concluded. “Wait, how did you called for them?”

“Easy, I went to Jongin’s place, Sehun was there” — Baekhyun winked his left eye to Yixing. “As soon as I entered they yelled at me ‘we weren’t doing anything’” — Baekhyun laughed soundly.

“Jongin is a fairy?” — Minseok asked.

“Jongin is an elf” — Yixing explained with a smile. “Sehun is the Sylph we were talking about.”

“He must be really powerful” 

“The four of them are, glad that at least two of them have some brain too.” — Baekhyun scoffed.

“You must be overwhelmed by all this info” — Yixing stated, feeling a little sorry for Minseok.

“I am” — Minseok couldn't hide the nervous gummy smile that crept out. “But, the Elementals are only a protection, we have to find the Winter King, don’t we?”

“That’s part of the problem” — Baekhyun explained. “Like Yixing was about to explain, you don’t find the Winter King, the Spirit has to choose him, so if we don’t have a Winter King yet is because the Spirit hasn’t found anyone fit for the role.”

“How do you know the Spirit has chosen you?”

“The crown” — Yixing pointed to his own forehead. “When the Spirit chooses someone as one of the Forest rulers the crown simply appears, as if the Spirit itself was crowning you.”

Minseok hummed, there was nothing he could do, the Spirit is the only one that can save them designating someone as their other rightful ruler, so it must have its own reasons, as Jongdae told him the first day; the Spirit has its own mysterious ways. “Yixing, when I arrived here the other day, did you thrown my stuff?” 

“The armor and the clothes? Yes, they were broken and covered in blood. But I kept your sword, why?” — Yixing asked, tilting his head.

“When we met, Jongdae told me that nothing happens inside this Forest without a reason, maybe the reason the Spirit wanted me here was to fight, to fight for the Forest, for Jongdae, and I will” — Minseok spoke with such a determination in his voice that both fairies were looking at him agape. “I don’t know how you fight inside this Forest, but I’m going to need my sword to give my protection to the Summer King if anything happens.”

“Of course” — Yixing smiled sincerely, nodding at Minseok’s words.

Baekhyun stood up from the bed, before leaving the room he spoke to Minseok again; “You should recover completely first, maybe get a pair of wings, get used to being a fairy… Don’t worry, the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse won’t get here until a week or two, for the very end of summer, you have some extra time to adjust.”

Minseok nodded full of eagerness while Baekhyun waved as a goodbye with one of his radiant smiles plastered on his face. Yixing and him kept talking while having dinner, Minseok realized then that fairy food was really tasty, weird looking to his human eyes, but full of flavor and color, exactly as everything else fairy related. When Yixing left to his own room, Minseok dedicated his last drops of strength to look a little more outside the window, to the Mother Tree, to Jongdae. How the tiny lights hanging from the lowest branches shimmered in the middle of the night like a lighthouse in the sea, like thousands of fireflies were dancing around the tree, how the soft summer breeze swayed the leaves like a caress… 

Until he fell asleep.

━━━━━━🌾━━━━━━

  
  
  


Next day Minseok woke up with the sunlight entering through the window landing directly on his face, Yixing was still deeply asleep, so he left a  quick note on his door after breakfast, leaving the fairy house on his own. Baekhyun was right, he should be adjusting to the fairy and elvish world he now lived in, and at some point he would need to take off the security network and explore by his own means.

He found out that fairies are not morning creatures, the streets were almost empty which made them look even more ethereal, the flowers that covered the streets in every shape, form and color you can imagine greeted him still bathed in morning dew. Elves, on the other hand, are morning creatures, at the other side of the river that divided both villages elves were already awake, coming in and out from different stores and buildings, the elvish village was less chaotic and shabby-looking than the fairy one, definitely both villages fitted their inhabitants.

Minseok decided that the main, and probably only stop, on his morning stroll should be the Mother Tree, even if he had no idea if he could enter, or see Jongdae. When he reached the base of the tree he couldn’t see guards or anything of the sort, like any human palace or fortress would have had, so he kept going until a voice made him stop on his tracks.

“Where do you think you are going?” — an elf called for him. He was tall, with tanned  glowy skin and soft brown hair that fell at both sides of his forehead. 

“Oh, sorry” — Minseok quickly answered. “I just wanted to see Jongdae.”

“Receptions aren’t open right now, the Summer King needs to rest” 

“I’m not here for a reception… I’m...his friend, I guess?” — Minseok tried to explain, but the furrowed eyebrows on the other weren’t a good omen. 

“Who are you?” — the other asked in a serious tone.

“Minseok… I arrived here a week ago, I live with Yixing at the moment, ...you know Baekhyun?”

“Yixing? Baekhyun? Those are friends of mine, wait, are you the half fairy Baekhyun has been blabbering about?” — the man asked.

_ Half fairy _ , Minseok mused inside his mind,  _ so funny Baekhyun _ . “Yes, that’s me.”

“Oh!” — the man’s expression drastically changed. “I’ve been wanting to meet you, I’m Jongin.”

“Oh!” — Minseok sounded like he was imitating Jongin. “I’ve heard of you.”

“Really? Good things?” — Jongin smiled, blinding Minseok with the absolute cuteness the man exuded.

“Not sure… I heard about you and...Sehun?”

“I’m going to kill Baekhyun.” — Jongin suddenly said, his expression changing to an annoyed pout. “That overgrown dragonfly needs to know how to shut up… Anyway, I can go with you to see  Dae, I was going anyway. ” — he was still pouting a little, but the puppy look definitely came back.

“ Dae ?” — Minseok tilted his head after hearing the loving nickname.

“Jongdae! He is my older brother. Half brother, we only share mum.” — he smiled brightly again.

“I didn’t know that he had a brother” — Minseok chatted.

“We are very close, but recently he has been… distant, he is trying really hard to endure everything on his own…”

“You look and sound really supportive, I’m sure that having you around  is a great relief for him.” — Minseok had just met Jongin, but his smile, the way he talked about his brother and the worried expression on his beautiful features when talking about Jongdae’s suffering, is enough for Minseok to trust him. He looks genuine, and after blushing til his pointy ears while hearing Minseok’s compliments, the half fairy is even more sure.

Both of them kept chatting, about elves and Jongdae mostly, while going all over the insides of the Mother Tree, it was richer than Minseok had expected, after all he only knew the divan room and the lake — apparently, they are known as the throne room and the private garden of the King he had discovered — the rest of the halls, dining rooms and open areas were delicately decorated, vines creeping everywhere around the walls, intricate curved columns carved on the Mother Tree own wood creating complex flower motifs while the huge windows brought light to every corner, sometimes with colored glass, forging the illusion of a rainbow.

“How weird” — Jongin muttered once both of them reached the throne room with his branch dome. “He should be here.”

“Maybe he is at the lake?” — Minseok wondered, already walking towards the hole in the wood that led to the lake and the grass islands. Once he crossed the hallway, he found Jongdae lying on the grass, dazed out, half of his legs inside the cool waters.

“Jongdae!” — Minseok run towards him, his yelling alerted Jongin, who showed up quickly besides his brother. Minseok knelt besides him, moving the elf’s head to his lap carefully. “Jongdae? Do you hear me?” 

Jongdae opened his eyes slowly; “Minseok? Jongin?”

“He is conscious, I’m getting Yixing, wait inside” — Jongin left the lake as quickly as he came, leaving Minseok and Jongdae alone.

“Can you stand up?” — Minseok asked softly. Jongdae answered with a nod, trying get up with Minseok’s help.

Jongdae managed to walk — supporting himself against Minseok — until the divan, where he left all of his weigh fall. He made Minseok a sign to sit besides him, and Minseok complied, really worried about Jongdae fainting again.

“What happened?” — Minseok had to ask.

“Snow-in-Summer” — Jongdae answered. “I wanted to grab one of two to give them to you, but my  mana left me, so I fainted.”

“You shouldn’t do things that put you in danger” — Minseok’s words were full of concern.

“Picking flowers is not something you can call dangerous...Who told you, Yixing? Baekhyun?” — Jongdae smiled sadly. “You sound like them, so you must know that I’m running out of time.”

“Both of them” — Minseok confessed.

Jongdae scoffed. “Fairies talk too much.”

“I came here to tell you something, but I don’t know If it’s the time.”

“Tell me, please.” — Jongdae looked at Minseok with pleading eyes.

“I want you to know that I’ll fight for you if the time comes, with or without wings. Human or fairy, or half fairy. It’s the first time in my life that I… that I actually want to fight for something, or someone.”

Jongdae smiled, the smile was completely genuine, but the tiredness he wore muffled it. “Thank you. I hope that you don’t have to, that nothing happens at all, that these fears I have  are only my imagination running wild, but I’m really thankful.” Jongdae leaned his head over Minseok, to place it on his shoulder, Minseok couldn’t hide the blush over his cheeks, or the way his eyes only wanted to look at the elf.

“How much I wish to have met you twenty years ago, when I was crowned, young and full of energy .. ” — Jongdae whispered.

“Twenty years ago I was a kid” — Minseok joked softly, making Jongdae laugh. 

“True, I forgot that you were born a human” — he answered a little embarrassed. “Then let me say this, how much I wish to have met you at the beginning of summer, when I wasn’t this tired.”

“Then, Your Grace, let me say this: I’m happy to have met you, no matter the season.” — Minseok looked down to find Jongdae staring intensely at him with his deep brown eyes, a pure smile crept over his face, his naturally upturned mouth emphasising his smile, alongside a pink hue over his cheeks. 

Minseok swore right there that he had never seen someone so beautiful and mesmerizing in his entire life, it made him think about his window looking at the sea in Southfield, the same hypnotizing vibes, the same comfort flooding him entirely…

The silent gazes they were sharing had to stop when Jongin and Yixing came back, the buzzing of the fairy wings could be heard anywhere as well as Jongin’s pleads of concern. Jongdae swore one, two and twenty times that he was feeling better, that he didn’t need to rest, but Yixing wasn’t buying any of the elf’s bullshit, every time Jongdae tried to dismiss the treatment Yixing’s wings buzzed louder. Minseok helped the other two carry Jongdae to his bedroom, he tends to forget that he actually has a bed and spends entire nights on the divan, the throne.

“If I sleep now there’s no way I know if the barrier is still up, and the Guardians sleeping.” — Jongdae explained. “It’s a luxury I can’t afford Yixing.”

“Sure” — Yixing nodded — “But you can fulfill any other royal duty from bed, I’m sure Minseok would love to help you.”

Minseok was taken aback from the sudden call and the responsibilities that implied; “Of course.”

“Good” — Yixing nodded to him. “I have a few patients today, some kids that are pulling out his wings” — he said looking specifically at Minseok with a smirk. A chill went across Minseok’s back as a reminder of the upcoming pain he would have to endure, while Yixing simply left the room laughing at his reaction.

“Are you scared about your wings?” — Jongin asked.

“I’m scared about the pain it implies, but I actually want them.” — Minseok confessed with a gummy smile.

“Jongin” — Jongdae spoke sitting comfortable in his bed. “Do you know something about Sehun?”

“The Sylph?” — Minseok asked, Jongin and Jongdae nodded in unison.

“He went to find Chanyeol first, it’s rain season in the south so  Junmyeon will be busy for a while, and  Kyungsoo is for sure on his farm at the Diamond Peak” — Jongin sighed.

“I’m sure he will find them” — Jongin tried to reassure his brother. “So, the fairies have you well-informed, Minseok.”

“Sometimes I feel like a kid, asking and asking… everyone is being so patient with me” — Minseok felt a sudden warmth spreading inside his heart at the thought of Yixing and Baekhyun carefully explaining everything that there is to know.

“Have they taught you  quenya ?” — Jongin asked

“ Quenya ?” 

“The Elvish language, fairies spoke it too, but not as much as we do” — Jongdae explained, grabbing some paper and a pencil from his bedside table. “Jongin is really great with kids” — Jongdae winked at Minseok playfully, while the half fairy sat alongside Jongin for his first  quenya class trying to forget the light blush showing up in his face.

The three of them spent the evening together, learning words and useful phrases in  quenya ,or teaching them, which proved to be more difficult than Minseok had figured out, they even shared dinner together, and by the end of the day, Jongdae had enough strength to walk again on his own, at least for a little stroll when Jongin and Minseok decided to leave the Mother Tree. The hanging lamps outside gave the hallways and the rooms inside the Tree an ethereal look, almost like a watercolor painting. Jongdae promised that he would go to sleep, he promised it at least three times, before Minseok left both elves forced him to pronounce a goodbye in  quenya , Minseok carefully said “ Namárië ” feeling a rush of proud inside his body spreading when both elves applauded his efforts.

━━━━━━🌾━━━━━━

In the deepest part of the Sacred Forest, where the Sacred Guardians sleep, awaiting their turn to wake and protect the Forest, a certain Guardian wakes up, without his masters approval, using more mana than the Summer King can afford to spend. But he doesn’t care, his mission is clear.

His eyes shine green in the safe darkness of the lush plants, sheltered from any eyes that dare to look directly at him. The Sacred Guardians take their form from different animals collecting the most interesting parts, blending them with huge amounts of mana, rock, and plants creating powerful chimeras.

But this Guardian is not like any other ordinary Guardian. Because when he was created the Sun Island was a different place, bigger and wilder, untamed. The first two Forest rulers created it in a time where there was no need for a barrier to cover the Forest, because the Forest occupied the entire island, but war was imminent. While the modern Guardians were created to protect, this one was created with the solely purpose of destruction. To devastate the land. To crush its enemies.

It started to eat, its three heads munching over another Guardian’s corpse, chewing the flesh, gnawing the rock, drinking the mana, feeding its own flesh and stone, getting bigger and mightier after every bite. He obeys no ruler weaker than him, the Cerberus will end any King unworthy of its title.

The first Guardian has awakened.

  
  


━━━━━━🌾━━━━━━

“Does this hurt?” — Yixing asked pressing on Minseok’s back.

“No” — Minseok answered in tension, waiting for Yixing to press on a bad spot.

“And this?” — Yixing got his answer as soon as he pressed, Minseok’s yell crossed the room followed by Yixing’s musical humming. “They are coming out soon, congrats.” 

“I couldn’t sleep last night… my back is killing me.” — Minseok complained.

“Be strong, only two or three more days.” — Yixing calculated. “My predictions might not be exact, is my first time seeing an adult fairy growing his wings.” — he finished with a sorry smile.

It’s been a whole week since the two lumps showed up on his upper back, everyone congratulated him, even if Baekhyun’s way of congratulating him means sticking a finger on one of the lumps loudly asking “Does it hurt?” with his mischievous square smile.

_ Fairies are mischievous _ , Minseok had learn thanks to Baekhyun,  _ human tales got that right. _

He had been visiting Jongdae almost every day since the day he fainted, the Summer King has been feeling better, replenishing his strength thanks to Yixing’s potions and to Minseok and Jongin complaints about his sleeping schedule. The King always answers with a pair of rolling eyes, but in the end, he obeys. Morning quenya lessons, tea in the afternoon, meals, Minseok and the King share every moment possible, mostly because the half fairy is still convinced that he owns the King his life and because it’s concerned about his health — that’s what he’s been telling himself and Baekhyun, owning himself the loudest laugh the pink haired fairy can manage to pull — not because the soon-to-be fairy holds the elf really close to his heart and cherishes their encounters above anything else.

“Don’t you ever want to come back to your place?” — the King asked one day.

Minseok gave the question a careful thought after answering. “No, I don’t think so.”

“How was your place like? Your human life, you never talk about it.” — Jongdae kept asking.

“Why do you ask?” 

“I told you, you were the first human I’ve ever met, or saw. I’m curious” — Jongdae said tilting his head.

Minseok would have never imagined that his plain human life would arouse interest in someone, but just as the elf and fairy habits were unknown to him, humans were, in some aspects, a mystery to them. “Let’s see” — Minseok started speaking — “My life wasn’t really interesting for the matter… I lived in a small apartment, just me and a big window looking to the sea, probably my most precious belonging, I served in the Human Alliance Army, as you know, like my father and my grandfather before me, they wanted me to keep the… family tradition. I never really liked it, being a soldier, the whole fighting for your country or your King discourse…”

“Yet here you are, ready to fight for a King that you met only a few weeks ago...almost a month” — Jongdae whispered.

“I’ve already told you… It’s the first time I feel like a part of something, my body and my mind want the same thing. I have a great debt to pay, and I’m willing to.”

“You don’t own us anything, Minseok” — Jongdae replied. “If you don’t want to fight you don’t have to.”

“I want to fight for you, Jongdae. Not because you are a King, because you saved me, I was resurrected, born again, not only with better features like the wings, but with a purpose, a will, and that’s thanks to you.” — Minseok approached the elf while finishing his sentence, looking straight to Jongdae’s eyes.

“I’m afraid that you see me as weak, worthless…in my current state...” — Jongdae kept saying

“Don’t say another word, or I’ll call Jongin, and he will cry after hearing you talking like that about yourself” - Minseok joked, owning a soft smile from Jongdae. “I don’t see you as weak, In fact, to me you are the strongest creature, person, elf, whatever I’ve ever met. You kept all of this working on your own for twenty years, that’s pure strength, resilience… I admire you a lot.” - the half fairy accompanied his words with one of his gummy smiles.

At Minseok’s words Jongdae heavily blushed, unable to keep the visual contact. “I’ve been thinking a lot about some things you said to me, and about how well ,and fast, you fitted yourself into our world, I think the Spirit of the Forest wanted you here with me, he put you here because we were lacking of you…”

Minseok couldn’t hide the trembling urge in his arms any longer, he hugged Jongdae without knowing if the other would even want it, but the way Jongdae’s body fitted into his arms and embrace, and how Jongdae’s hands quickly searched for a holding point on his back gave the half fairy full reassurement. 

“I don’t care about the Spirit’s reasons for me to be here, the only thing I care about is my reason to stay here; you, Jongdae.”

“... Thank you” — Jongdae softly whispered into Minseok’s ear, their hairs delicately brushing against each others, skin against skin.

But the hug had to end with a warning, an alarm emphatically ringing across the woods, waking up birds and bugs creating a living storm on movement in just a second, the trees shifted their trunks and branches, like they were scared, as if they wanted to cut their roots and leave the Forest they formed. The earth trembled, the wind howled across the valley.

Jongdae left Minseok’s arms, he had never felt this tired in his life, he couldn’t barely walk without support, yet denied Minseok’s help, he had to see with his own eyes, he had to contemplate the nightmare that was about to come rampant over him and his Kingdom.

“The barrier” — Jongdae muttered, his eyes perplexed, more black than the usual deep brown. “The barrier has gone down.”

Only a minute after, Baekhyun appeared in the Mother Tree, calling like crazy for Jongdae and Minseok. Instead of his usual comfortable and colorful clothes, Baekhyun had already on a fairy armor, really fit, the shiny plated metal covered his torso, arms and legs from knees to toes, it even had protections for the root of his wings, where they collided with his back, the helmet he carried on his hand was made of the same shiny material. He looked like a completely different person.

“Jongdae” — he spoke with an unusual deep voice and serious expression. “We need to take measures.”

“You are right” — Jongdae answered, his expression was hopeless. “Take the fastest fairies you have, go where the barrier used to stand, if any Guardian has left the Forest inform me, I’ll send elves to help” — Baekhyun simply nodded at his King’s instructions, then he looked at Minseok.

“If you had your wings I’ll take you with me.” — Baekhyun smiled softly, punching Minseok softly on the arm. “Keep him safe, Yixing will get here soon.” — he left, already wearing his helmet and quickly swinging his dragonfly wings.

“We should wait in another place, Jongdae” — Minseok said to the elf, who was completely in another place, but in the end he nodded.

They waited for Yixing in the throne room, the fairy doctor handed the King another of his mana potions, Jongdae wasn't complaining, given the situation he could use every drop of mana he could get, yet when the fall of the barrier had replenished some of his lost power.

“I can’t rise it up again” — Jongdae lamented. “I’m trying but I can’t.”

“Is something blocking your power?” — Yixing asked.

“No, it’s far worse, there is something not obeying me inside these woods and consuming huge amounts of mana” — Jongdae caressed his forehead, stressed. “I’m blind now.”

“Blind?” — Minseok asked, scared.

“The barrier is a sphere that covers the entirety of the Forest, from the roots of the trees to the sky above us, it prevents outsiders to come in, and the Sacred Guardians to come out when it’s not their time if something happens. It’s weakening made possible the horrors that almost kills you.” — Yixing explained.

“The barrier and my power are connected. The barrier emanates from within me after all, if the barrier goes down I can’t perceive if the Guardians are in their usual dormant positions, and added to that I can’t connect with some of them, I’ve been trying, but I lost them in the thickness.” — Jongdae’s eyes were growing a red hue on the corners, from the impotence inside of him.

“Baekhyun went to patrol the border, everything will be fine..” — Minseok tried to reassure Jongdae.

“No, it’s not...they could be destroying the Forest from inside, confused about their King not being able to command them…” — Jongdae sighed.

Minseok understood then, he can’t find the Winter King, he can’t fly like the rest of the fairies yet, and he can’t fight with the rest of the elves either, but he had human military training, he is a warrior, he knows how to trace prey, he had fought a Sacred Beast before, and overall, he had made an oath to Jongdae. “Then my mission is clear” — Minseok stood up, his fingers strongly grabbing his sword, practically his only memory about his human life. “I’m going inside the Forest to find the Guardians, if something is wrong I’ll come back and inform.”

“No!” — Jongdae stood up. “You can’t, you’ll get lost or harmed, the Forest is not safe anymore, not even for fairies or elves.”

“I made an oath to you” — Minseok’s eyes looked back directly at Jongdae, piercing the elf, freezing him in place. “Wait here with Yixing, we can’t afford you to be injured, and It’s not my first time fighting a Sacred Beast, I’m not scared.”

“Wait” — Jongdae said approaching Minseok and taking one of his hand on his own. The King recited some words in quenya, Minseok only recognized a bunch of them, but when Jongdae had finished a green thread of mana was hanging from his wrist, ending on Jongdae’s wrist. “If you can’t find your way back, follow the thread, I’ll always guide you to me.”

Minseok nodded with a confident smile before leaving the Mother Tree, running across the green islands and the dark lake, leaving behind a trail of pure white snow-in-summer and a pair of concerned brown eyes.

━━━━━━🌾━━━━━━

  
  


The tick vegetation made difficult every single step Minseok took across the Forest, how much was he wishing for a delicate flowery path now, showing him where to step and where not to. Minseok is not sure that if everything he is being able to perceive now is thanks to his new fairy blood, or that the change in the Forest is not subtle at all, there is some kind of pressure in the air, a density he can get rid of and swallows him in, making hard even to breath.

It feels like being too deep under the water.

He keeps going, fast but paying attention at every detail, non-stop but always looking twice, he has been walking for hours now, the night slowly setting herself high up in the sky, but he decided to keep going more into the dense air, considering it his only lead about what it's going on inside the Forest until he finds what it looks like the remains of a Sacred Guardian. There’s mana splattered everywhere, on the ground, the leaves near the rock corpse, unrecognizable.

_ Who did this to you? _ , Minseok asked himself, approaching the biggest pile of dead rock, ignoring the nightmare looking at him behind the trees.

Minseok didn’t expect it, a colossal paw tearing up the trees with sheer force as easy as if they were made of paper. Minseok reacted just in time, he threw himself to the ground, now facing the beast, the monster in front of him.

_ I have to warn Jongdae, _ was the first thing that crossed Minseok’s mind, while the three headed dog made of rock, fur spots and mana looked at him with his lifeless shimmering green eyes. The Cerberus didn’t doubt, one of his three heads opened his reeking mouth to spit fire directly at the rock remains where Minseok was trying to hide himself. Minseok looked at his sword, he can’t fight this thing alone, not like this, but he has to come back to Jongdae, he has to distract the beast and run.

Luckily Minseok is small enough to fit his body through another aperture in the ruins, the Cerberus still spitting fire everywhere, scorching everything under his touch to a pitch black melted nothingness, Minseok was about to hide in the darkness of the forest, when something hit his back severely, at first he thought about the Cerberus and looked back terrified, but the dog wasn’t even looking in his direction. There was another option, though.

His wings.

_ Fuck, _ Minseok thought, _ not now, not now. _ His thoughts started to go rampant under the close presence of the Cerberus, his back stung badly, like someone was stabbing him directly. He tried really hard to keep walking, but the smoke and the pain weren’t helping, he needed to cry out his pain, he needed to crouch over himself, but he also needed to keep walking towards the darkness.

When he tried to stand up and run, he felt like a spear piercing his entire body, and he couldn't handle it anymore, Minseok yelled his lungs out, knowing that that little pleasure could cost him his life. The Cerberus growled looking at him with his three heads, Minseok couldn’t move from his position, but he wasn’t letting that nightmare taking him down.

He drew his sword with an unsteady hand from the pain and all the smoke clouding his vision, Cerberus approached him, saliva hanging from his teeth as big as a kid, another paw Minseok had to dodge, a bite Minseok barely managed to escape, the back pain hurting more than ever.

Like a dance, Minseok had to move his feet fast, not thinking too much about where he was landing, it didn’t care, land or rock, as long as it was stable enough to take another step, another dodge, another feint. Cerberus tried to bite him, and that would probably leave him without an arm, a leg, or his head, but instead, the second head bumped into him, with such a force that Minseok flew away, hitting his already aching back against a stone wall.

The yell Minseok emitted was profound, as much as the Hell he was living. Cerberus looked in his direction again, fire swinging in and out, between the teeth of the middle head.

Minseok felt it, it was time. He looked at his wrist, the green thread glowing. _ I’m sorry. _

It was his time to go. Tired, hurting, his face full of sweat and dirt from the fire, he stood up against the beast, he wasn’t going to leave this world without putting up a fight first.

From the utter parts of his body, he yelled, not leaving a single drop of air inside his lungs. 

At the same time his yelling echoed through the woods, his wings finally came out. For a second Minseok forgot about his situation, there they were, blue and purple, nacreous, long and slim. And ready to fly.

Minseok had no idea about what he was doing, unconsciously he moved his wings, and they obeyed as if he had been flying his entire life, passing through the heads of the monstrous dog, leaving a nasty scar with his sword in one of its three necks, lifting his entire body above the sea of trees.

The fairy could hear the cries of the Cerberus while he clumsily flied following his green thread to home.

━━━━━━🌾━━━━━━

  
  
  


“Something is wrong” — Jongdae looked at the green thread that was still glowing, like hours ago when he summoned it. 

But as soon as he stood out of the Mother Tree looking with his mana across the woods for a lead of Minseok he heard a growl he had never heard before. A beast that shouldn’t be awake. And Minseok went directly to the lion’s den.

Guilt and anxiety quickly ran across Jongdae’s body. Yixing called for him to not go out the Mother Tree, but Jongdae didn’t hear, more like he didn’t listen to his commands, instead he run. Soil quickly appearing under his feet while crossing the lake, sweat covering his forehead like a light rain, his clothes getting stained and wet, but he didn’t care, he could have sent Minseok… his Minseok with his bright gummy smile, dumb jokes and caring support, he could’ve sent his human to a very painful death. Jongdae felt how his heart was about to leave his body, he shouldn’t, but he used his mana to run where the thread pointed him to, to where his human was.

The thread grew more and more short, but they haven’t encountered yet, the woods getting thicker and darker due to the night falling upon them, the closer the faster his heart and legs worked, how much he wished now to have a pair of wings like Baekhyun has.

A branch scratched his face leaving a thin red line right under his right eye, but Jongdae didn’t care, it didn’t stop him from jumping a few heaped rocks on the way easily, thanks to his elf anatomy he was faster and agile than any human, and the little electric impulses he was applying to his muscles made him unstoppable. When he reached a clearing in the middle of the Forest, he found the thread pointing at the Moon itself, but it couldn’t be right, he called for Minseok with all of his might, the green shimmer on his eyes completely on, searching across the trees to find nothing.

Until, above his head, over the trees, a blue and purple sparkle startled him. His pearly wings gleamed under the moonlight like if they were made of nacre. Jongdae swore to himself that he had never seen something so strikingly wonderful as Minseok flying across the Forest under the full moon. 

Minseok noticed Jongdae standing right in the middle of the meadow, maybe it was lack of flying experience or maybe it was what they both wanted, but instead of an elegant landing, Minseok left himself fell besides Jongdae only to clumsily hug him. 

Jongdae had never felt such happiness than when they both found each other in that clearing, not even the day they met, or the day the Spirit put the Summer Crown over his head. 

Right there, Jongdae wished that instead of thunder and summer storms, instead of bloomings and harvests, he wished he could control time. To completely stop it there, in that second.

He left the Mother Tree searching for his human, instead he found his fairy.

Jongdae felt spring and summer all at once blooming inside him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just, please, imagine Yixing with bee wings that buzz everytime he gets upset.  
I hate bugs and I had to look at a lot of bug photos for this fic.  
leave a comment and kudos, if not for me, for your favourite bee!


	3. Chapter 3

  
  


> There’s no reason in loving you
> 
> I want to give you the biggest place in my heart
> 
> More than anyone else
> 
> 어떤 이유도 없어 너를 사랑하는 건
> 
> 다른 사람보다 널 내 마음
> 
> 가장 큰 자릴 주고 싶어 **   
**
> 
>   * __lyrics from “You”, by Xiumin.__
> 
>   
  
  


“I’ve never seen such a thing before, not even in a nightmare” — Minseok said when he ended his tale about the Cerberus. “If I hadn't had wings I wouldn’t make it alive.” 

“Now that you mention it” — Baekhyun spoke. “How was your first fly?”

Minseok didn’t even have the time to think about the flying experience in the first place. “I was so scared that I didn’t pay attention..” — he said a little embarrassed, making Baekhyun laugh.

“You are a natural, born to be a fairy” — Yixing said from the back, still analyzing Minseok’s wings. “They’re strong, tough, warrior wasp wings.” — he concluded.

“It fits you” — Jongdae said with a soft smile, caressing one of his wings. “Warrior wings for the Forest’s bravest warrior”

Minseok blushed a little after hearing Jongdae, but the moment was abruptly interrupted by Jongin, wearing his elvish armor, green and somewhat golden, he looked like royalty himself.

“They are here” — Jongin said. “The four of them.”

A loud gasp came from Baekhyun, if it wasn’t for his elegant armor he would’ve lost all his dignity right there. “Quickly, Jongdae, how does my hair look?”

“You are fine, as always” — Jongdae, dismissed the topic with a funny expression.

“As always? That’s tragic!” — Baekhyun quickly tried to comb his hair looking at his reflection on his shiny helmet.

Four men entered the throne room, they didn’t share any single physical characteristic, but they had the same devastatingly powerful aura, Jongdae quickly stood up to greet them like you greet an old friend, with his beautiful sunny smile and a hug.

“Let me introduce you, Minseok” — Jongdae placed a hand on his shoulder softly. “This is Minseok, our new addition to the group, he might look like a fairy, but he was a human only a month ago.”

“A human?!” — the tallest asked, his ember eyes ignited when he heard it, but not with hate, with curiosity. “How is that even possible?” 

“Luck, I guess” — Minseok chuckled, bowing to the man.

“My name is Chanyeol” — he said. “But you might know me as the Salamander” — the tall guy bowed to Minseok, politely. Red hair, ember eyes, loud personality, even his ears everything about him stood out and yelled ‘fire’. Even his warm smile could flare up the entire Forest if he wanted.

“This is Kyungsoo” — Jongdae kept introducing the group, placing himself besides the shortest member. “The Gnome” — Kyungsoo and Minseok bowed to each other, caramel hair and freckles covering his cheeks and nose, he might be the smallest but his strong gaze and features made him look the mightiest of the group. The big hammer holding on his back helped to create said image.

“My name is Junmyeon” — another one quickly introduced himself, Minseok was astonished, the man talking was as beautiful as the sea itself. “The Undine, and I have to say that I’m sorry, we get this late to the party because of me… It was rainy season…”

“Don’t excuse yourself, we are still here.” — Minseok bowed too to the talkative man, a little paler than the rest, it’s dark hair and eyes made him look paler,. Minseok noticed the pearly blue hue of his skin in some points, like his elbows and neck, covered with scales like a mermaid. Minseok had never seen a mermaid, or a merman, but they should definitely look like Junmyeon and probably have the same soft voice.

“We heard about the barrier falling” — Junmyeon kept saying, but this time he talked to the Summer King, lovingly. “We will stay here as long as you need us.”

“Thanks Jun.” — Jongdae answered. “And you’ve already heard of..”

“Sehun” — the last one answered. “Or the Sylph. Or Jongin’s lover, as you prefer.”

“Sehun!” — Jongin screamed in surprise, making Baekhyun choke on air.

The orange haired guy smiled mischievously, while moving its beautiful and gigantic monarch butterfly wings. “Nini, we aren’t news, everyone knows already.”

_ He might have fairy blood _ , Minseok thought, softly chuckling at the scene, seeing Jongin so flustered and Sehun running to embrace him.

“Now that we all know each other, we should get things done” — Yixing pointed out. “Sorry to rain on the parade.”

“I agree with Xing” — Kyungsoo answered, grabbing his hammer — “Where do you need us?”

“Please, don’t say the border with the Diamond Peak, it’s cold there, and I hate cold” — Chanyeol complained with a pout, sat at the divan with Baekhyun leaning besides him.

“I’m afraid that I’m going to need all of you here, inside the Forest.” — Jongdae’s expression changed for a grim one. “Because my worst nightmare is coming after me.”

“What are we fighting against?” — Sehun asked, holding Jongin’s hand lovingly.

“Cerberus” — Jongdae answered.

“I told them not to build that thing, but he did it anyway, a giant-three headed dog that can spit fire in the middle of a Forest, what a great idea” — Chanyeol kept complaining.

“And not whatever fire, your fire” — Junmyeon added.

“Your fire?” — Minseok had to ask, lost into the conversation.

“When the first ruler created Cerberus he asked us for our help, my rock and his fire to build the best weapon possible. It was centuries ago, but we remember it clearly” — Kyungsoo explained with a sigh. “We weren’t exactly agree with the idea, but, they were our Kings, we obeyed” — Kyungsoo shrugged.

“Glad that they didn’t ask me back then” — Sehun added with a smirk.

“Anyway, we need to stop that thing or it will destroy the entire Forest” ´- Baekhyun interrupted. “Minseok, tell them what you saw.”

Minseok quickly described the best and its state, completely operative and very aggressive. “It was eating and destroying other Guardians, mana was everywhere like it had rained”

“He will try to destroy and eat every possible Guardian before coming after you, Jongdae, but that will only make him stronger, I assume” — Junmyeon was sharing out loud his thoughts. “We should stop him before he gets near the villages or it will be a catastrophe”

“Agreed, but, can the Cerberus perceive you or your mana?” — Yixing asked to the Summer King.

“I guess that it can feel my mana as much as he feels the Guardians' mana” — Jongdae said. “But I can’t tell where he is, since he isn’t tied to my power, he is tied to the Forest directly.”

“Then we have to attract him, to a place far enough from here and big enough to fight and kill that beast.” — Jongin added.

“You are not coming” — Sehun replied. “I don’t want you near that thing.”

“Try to stop me, butterfly” — Jongin answered sticking out his tongue, making Baekhyun coo loudly.

“If the Forest doesn’t have a place like that I can create it” — Kyungsoo placed his heavy hammer on the floor with a loud thump, startling Chanyeol. “It just takes a little earthquake.”

“We are not in the mood for an earthquake, Soo” — Jongdae answered with a sigh. “You want to give all the fairies and elves living here a heart attack?”

“Maybe..:” — Baekhyun said out loud still musing something inside his head. “Minseok, you know well the outer lands, don’t you?” 

“I guess” — Minseok answered a little taken aback. “Why?” 

“What if, instead of fighting inside the Forest we fight outside, that way we won’t cause any more damage to the woods, and we’ll be away from the villages.”

“That’s really clever, Baek” — Chanyeol patted his pink head, not the only thing with a pink hue in Baekhyun.

“That could be done, but we still need a way to attract the Cerberus outside” — Yixing added.

“What happened, you weren’t such a buzzkill before” — Sehun joked with a mischievous smile owning himself a pair of buzzing bee wings and a punch on the arm.

“I know how” — Jongdae spoke again. “I’m the Summer King, but he obeys no King weaker than him, and right now I am, but If I assemble all the mana possible around myself I’ll give him something he won’t be able to ignore.”

“Are you sure you are okay to be on the battlefield?” — Baekhyun had to ask.

“It’s the end of summer, in a week we’ll be in autumn. I have no other choice without the Winter King present.” — Jongdae lamented. “I have to end this now, before I completely wither.”

“I won’t let you wither” — Minseok spoke suddenly, looking at Jongdae who nodded knowingly to him. I hope so, Jongdae thought. “There’s a meadow outside the Forest, on the northwest side from here, there used to be a village there, but a Sacred Guardian destroyed it a month ago.” — Minseok explained.

“That’s where the human Minseok almost got killed?” — Baekhyun asked funnily, Minseok nodded back with a little smile.

“How are going to kill that beast?” — Jongin asked with a concerned expression.

“That it’s going to be tricky” — Kyungsoo answered. “One does not simply kill that thing, it’s made of rock from the Diamond Peak that I personally collected, it is as strong as diamond” 

“And it’s core, its heart, is pure ember” — Chanyeol announced. “I made it myself, it won’t fade with just some water…”

“I have all the water you might need” — Junmyeon answered with a soft smile.

“What if we cut the heads?” — Yixing asked.

“You mean, the three giant heads full of teeth as tall as a kid that breath fire?” — Minseok asked back arching a brow. There was no need of a response, the image of the three heads was enough.

“We need to open the rock, in order to get its heart. Kyungsoo you and your hammer are essential to that part of the plan.” — Jongdae simply said. “Junmyeon, you should damp the whole area some hours before, I want his fire doing minimal damage possible.”

“Heavy rains coming” — Junmyeon nodded.

“He is probably roaming around the Forest, does he even rest?” — Baekhyun asked directly to the salamander.

“He does, he is resting now. He was made to attack villages and creatures his size during night.”

“Then, tomorrow night” — Kyungsoo concluded. “The sooner the better, the Moon is changing soon and Jongdae can’t fight in autumn” 

“Wait, why don’t we search for him now, during day and attack while he is sleeping” — Sehun asked.

“Because the Forest is too big, Sehunnie” — Junmyeon answered softly. “It will take a lot of time even for us, and he has probably a hideout.”

“The first Kings built him a hideout, yes” — Kyungsoo kept saying. “I remember their conversations about the topic, but they never disclosed where it was, not to me or Chanyeol.” — Chanyeol and Kyungsoo nodded in agreement.

“Tomorrow night is, then” — Jongdae finished the chat. “Junmyeon let that rain start falling tonight, not to damp the terrain, but enough to protect the area for a while.” — he sighed loudly. “The rest of you get prepared for tomorrow, try to sleep and eat. I’ll see all of you in the evening.” — the Summer King excused himself after dismissing the rest.

It was a precarious plan, it was half a plan to be honest, but it was everything they could manage in such a short time. Minseok could feel the tension and uneasiness floating in the ambiance, filling the otherwise peaceful room with nervousness.

Thanks to the Spirit, they had a whole Baekhyun in the room.

━━━━━━🌾━━━━━━

  
  


The loud voices, laugh and chattering filled now the hallways across the Mother Tree. Baekhyun decided that if they were going to risk their lives tomorrow, today they’ll have a great party. And once Baekhyun has decided something is really hard to take out of his head, specially if a certain red haired guy had agreed with him.

But even if the laughter and watching Yixing dance were amusing Minseok, and crowding his head, he could feel an empty spot at the reunion. Jongdae had left hours ago and didn’t come back.  _ Probably is a fairy thing _ , Minseok thought giving one last sip to his glass, _ I wasn’t this bold before. _

He stood up, trying to leave the room without anyone noticing, but it was too much to ask, Baekhyun quickly winked an eye to him, causing Minseok to blush like a kid that had been caught stealing candy. When he reached the hallways he noticed how deep in the night they were, the outside lamps were completely on and there was no one to be seen on the streets. Minseok also noticed a soft light coming from Jongdae’s bedroom, exactly the person he was looking for.

When he entered the big room, the King was standing on his window, looking from above to his friends, with a sad expression.

“You know you could be downstairs with them” — Minseok said carefully.

“I know” — Jongdae answered with a sigh. “But I shouldn’t”

“Why is that?” — Minseok sat at the border of the bed, listening to Jongdae. His usual upturned mouth was just a shadow, completely blank.

“I am the Summer King.” — he simply answered, not looking at Minseok anymore. “I shouldn’t be celebrating when we are at the verge of a battle.”

“You are also Jongdae” — Minseok answered. “An elf.”

Jongdae chuckled. Why is he always able to make me laugh even when I don’t want to? He thought. “I wish I could be like Baekhyun right now, flirting casually with Chanyeol, having a well-deserved good time….”

“Baekhyun is scared too.” — Minseok said, staring directly and Jongdae. “And Yixing, and Jongin… and I” 

Jongdae looked back at Minseok, furrowing his straight eyebrows. “You are scared?”

“I’ve never been this scared in my life” — Minseok answered as honestly as he could. “I can lose a lot of things tomorrow, and on top of that I’m not even sure of what can I do. But I’ll fight anyway.”

“Your oath..:” — Jongdae whispered sitting at the other side of the bed, near Minseok. The dim light of his bedroom accentuated his cat-like eyes and sharp features. “I’m scared, Minseok. I’ve been scared for twenty years, not being worthy, losing my position, the Winter King, the mana, I’ve been stressed and scared my whole reign… but this is different.”

“What is different?”

“I’ve been scared about things related to myself and my position before, but now I’m scared that I’ll lose everyone I care about. Every single one of you.”  _ I can't stop thinking about the fact that tomorrow I might lose you. _

Minseok could see the desperation of Jongdae’s thoughts floating inside his deep eyes, the redness showing on its corners, the puffiness on the bag under his eyes, the tiredness he wears, during this whole time Jongdae has been worried about the others, about his family.

  
  
  


“Then we are scared about the same thing” — Minseok said in such a low tone that it was almost like a whisper. Jongdae wore a sad smile on his face as an answer, allowing silence to grow between them.

Some music came from downstairs, its rhythm enticing and light accompanied by the others voices and laughs made Minseok scoff.

“They know how to throw a party” — Minseok said, looking at Jongdae.

“You should go back with them” — Jongdae answered.

“I am.” — Minseok got up from the bed, offering his hand to Jongdae. “With you.”

“I already told you…” — Jongdae tried to say but Minseok interrupted.

“I’m not inviting the Summer King” — the gummy smile that made Jongdae’s heart flutter appeared suddenly. “I’m inviting Jongdae, and only Jongdae, with his loud laugh, funny ideas and radiant smile.”

Jongdae doubted, but in the end the took Minseok’s hand, already laughing lively.  _ It’s hard to say no if you smile like that. _

“Jongdae” — Minseok said to him before the crossed the doorstep to the divan room where Yixing and Sehun danced while Jongin, Baekhyun clapped at them with his loud laughter and Chanyeol played a guitar. “Whatever happens tomorrow, I’ll be with you. We are all scared, but it’s better if we are all together.”

  
  


Jongdae could feel tears forming inside his eyes, Minseok had a way of saying exactly what he needed to her, it felt like Minseok could read his mind or hear his heart sometimes, and it frightened Jongdae deeply, but in a good way, comparable to opening a surprise gift. 

Jongdae took Minseok hand on his and crossed the doorstep, he didn’t see the blush on Minseok’s face, or how the other looked at him in awe.

For a second Jongdae glowed in confidence and power, he had always looked like a King to Minseok’s eyes, but at that moment, even if he wasn’t wearing a crown

over his head, nobody would’ve doubted that he was a King.

━━━━━━🌾━━━━━━

The blue lightning hit a rock that threatened to land in Minseok’s face just in front his eyes, splitting it in two smaller parts and leaving the fairy completely astonished, surrounded by thousands of electric particles floating in the air like fireflies in a summer night. 

Minseok moved only his eyes to look at where the lightning came from. Jongdae’s hand. Like some God of Thunder he summoned a whole storm in his hands, he was clearly tired, as much as the rest of the group, and this wasn’t the first time this evening that Minseok has seen his lightning crossing the sky, but it didn’t make it less impressive.

  
  
  


“Are you okay?” — the elf asked, helping Minseok to get up. Mud and sweat all over his fairy armor. He simply nodded, not in the mood to talk, watching how Chanyeol descended from the sky once more, covered in fire, ready to throw another flash to the Cerberus. “I have an idea, but I need your help.”

  
  
  


“With what?” — Minseok asked.

  
  
  


“As soon as I do what I’m about to I’ll run out of mana, I need you to carry me to Yixing then” - Jongdae's words as well as his brown eyes were full of determination.

  
  
  


“O-okay” — Minseok grabbed Jongdae by the waist, in case the elf fainted. “What are you going…”

  
  
  


“Just watch” — Jongdae lifted his arms, his eyes were shining green and golden while the clouds crowded round above their heads. “If this doesn’t work… I hope the Spirit guides us.”

As soon as Jongdae ended talking, the lightning and thunder forming on the clouds, the deafening sound alerted the beast, but it was too late, the sound transformed itself in pure energy, breaking the clouds on their way down, only to land directly on the Cerberus. A thunder powerful enough to break the stone. 

  
  
  


“Jongdae! You did it” — Kyungsoo yelled euphorically.

  
  
  


“Dae?” — Minseok asked, but Jongdae had already fainted, completely out of mana and energy.

Minseok obeyed Jongdae’s request and took it flying as quickly as he could to Yixing, currently treating Sehun at the back of the improvised battlefield.

  
  
  


“What was that?” — Yixing asked. “Dae?” — he approached the dazed out elf, trying to wake him up.

  
  
  


“He opened a breach on the stone, but he run out of mana” — Minseok left the unconscious body over the still wet grass. “Take care of him.” - Minseok said to Yixing while his body left the scene, but his heart stayed there, deeply worried about Jongdae. He had been exerting himself during the past hours to a point where he finally fainted.

On the other hand his has been the first advance they made in hours fighting the beast, they tried everything they could, everything on their minds as a plausible idea, but nothing worked, the beast was too strong, to smart, too resilient.

Chanyeol tried, with the help of Sehun, to melt the rock in a whirlwind of fire, in his own words he has fire powerful enough to do that, but apparently the stone and rocks that Kyungsoo used were too resistant for that, and they probably were enhanced with elfic magic. Kyungsoo tried to crack them open with his hammer but the stone didn’t move an inch, what it moved was the Cerberus paw, that left a nasty scar on Kyungsoo’s face.

Junmyeon had been the most effective one, the rains he summoned protected the area from getting into a fire, and his water currents really annoyed the three headed dog, minimizing the effects of its fire.

If it wasn’t for Jongin and his teleportation powers some of them would’ve died two times already, the elf saved Minseok from getting munched to death once, and saved Baekhyun from a lethal claw.

When the beast appeared, hours ago, while Jongdae was assembling all the mana he could from the Forest, Minseok knew that it was going to be hard. But not this exasperating. He is worn off, dirty, and his vision slightly blurry, moreover he is not sure that he is being helpful, his only power is the ability to fly, and Baekhyun exceeds him at that. Giving one more look to Jongdae, lying on the ground, he moves his tired wings, directly to the Cerberus heads to distract him, Chanyeol is tired from all the fire he has to summon to support his body on flying and burn the beast. As fast as the thunder that previously hit him, Minseok flew between two of the necks, making the beast shift his position just in time for Chanyeol to move away.

“Are you okay, Yeol?” — Baekhyun asked, quickly approaching the Salamander, both of them moving under the fire that the Cerberus was spitting.

“Tired, but fine” — Chanyeol answered, out of breath. “We need a better plan.” 

“I have one” — Kyungsoo appeared from nowhere. “Help Minseok, he is alone with the dog, where is Jongin?” .

“I’m here” — Jongin showed up right behind Kyungsoo after Baekhyun left flying towards Minseok and the dog’s necks.

“Transport me to the chest” 

“The chest?” — Jongin asked.

“Right under the beast, now that the stone has a crack I think I can completely break the shell to the core.” - Jongin, as only answer, grabbed Kyungsoo with a hug, and in the blink of an eye they vanished only to appear a second later under the beast’s huge body.

“Smells weird down here” — Jongin said.

“Wet, partially burnt, dog” — Kyungsoo said. The beast moved a lot, even in short distances it was really hard for him to aim right to the center, Kyungsoo’s hands were trembling under the heavy responsibility and due to his own exhaustion. Jongin approached the Gnome and grabbed the hammer with him, to provide support, Kyungsoo doubted no more, with a loud yell his eyes shined like honey, intense and energetic.

Crack.

  
  
  
  


Over their heads, the stone that formed the lower body of the beast cracked, like the skies were falling upon them, luckily enough, Jongin was quick with his magic, when the firsts shattered stones touched the ground, Jongin and Kyungsoo were already besides Yixing, lying in the grass like Jongdae, but laughing from the released adrenaline, bumping each other fists.

“Don’t give me such a scare, any of you, ever again” — Sehun yelled at them, with a really serious face, that only made Kyungsoo and Jongin laugh even louder.

Baekhyun and Minseok noticed the change, when the best let out a cavernous growl, as deep as Hell itself.

“I can see it” -´Baekhyun signaled to Minseok. “That’s the core.”

“Don’t touch it!” — Chanyeol yelled at both fairies. “It will burn even your bones.”

“How do we do this, then?” — Minseok asked.

“I will, stay behind” — Chanyeol left the conversation, quickly flying towards the heart of the beast, now heavily guarded, the three heads lower than usual, preventing anyone to get near.

“Showoff” — Baekhyun muttered with a big smile plastered on his face while flying behind the Salamander. Minseok stood there, flying, watching the events unveil, in case any of them needed help, but meanwhile Baekhyun and Chanyeol get to the Cerberus, Jongdae had woken up.

His attention was dragged again toward the beast, Baekhyun yelling was what woke him up from his distraction.

“Let him go!” — Baekhyun yelled, illuminating himself like a light bulb, so hard the dog had to close his eyes, letting Chanyeol free himself from the gigantic paw that tried to hold him. I’m getting tired of this, Baekhyun thought, feeling his wings more and more tired.

But the beast wasn’t tired, and Baekhyun’s counter attack only provoked him more, Cerberus ran behind Chanyeol, using his full force to smash him to the ground, Chanyeol was fast enough to dodge the center of the paw, but own of the claws teared his chest, making him bleed profusely. 

_ No, no, no _ , Baekhyun mind went rampant, his eyes glowing so white that the real color of his eyes was no longer visible.

“Chanyeol” — Minseok flew quickly towards the fallen salamander, still alive, but coughing blood. Not long after, Jongin appeared, taking Chanyeol with him to see Yixing. Meanwhile, Baekhyun decided to use every inch of power in his possession, the Sun was still shining enough for him for one last trick.

Baekhyun had been using a sword made of pure light to fight the monster, but this time, he is changing weapons. Placing himself with the setting Sun on his back, a longbow made of light appeared on his hands with just one single long arrow. Cerberus groaned at him, opening and closing his reeking mouth, letting fire swirl around its teeth like serpents.

_ I’m not afraid of you _ , Baekhyun thought. “Go to hell” 

Cerberus run to Baekhyun, opening his mouth to bite and swallow the glowing fairy, but Baekhyun’s aim has always been perfect. The glowing arrow landed into one of the beast’s eyes, threw with such brute force that it even crossed the skull of the right head. One less head, Baekhyun thought after his wings failed him, he had used every drop of mana he had left inside.

Fortunately for him, Minseok was right there.

“You were great” — Minseok told him while carrying him to Yixing, hearing the cries of the beast while Kyungsoo and Junmyeon came back into the battlefield.

“You think Chanyeol noticed?” — Baekhyun asked with just a thread of voice. Minseok had to laugh. Baekhyun will always be Baekhyun.

He left Baekhyun right besides Chanyeol, who grabbed his hand as soon as they were together, to Baekhyun’s complete pleasure. Minseok was about to come back when someone grabbed him by the wrist.

“Minseok, you are exhausted” — Jongdae was awake and looking well. As exhausted as him, but well.

“I’m glad that you are awake” — Minseok replied. “I can’t stop now”

“I know, but…” 

  
  
  


That was the last thing he heard, the voice of Jongdae fading out, the cries and growls of the beast, the magic being cast, ... the grass soft and wet under his skin.

“Winter”

“Winter?” — Minseok asked. He couldn’t move his body, completely exhausted it was like his legs and arms had decided that enough was enough. Not to speak about his wings, he didn’t even feel them. 

He managed to open his eyes, he looked as much as he could to both sides without moving his head, but everything he needed to see was right in front of him, a blue deer, placed over him in an infinite dark room, there was no sky, no stars, nothing else besides the animal and him.

Minseok moved his hand to pet the animal, his hand and arm answered his request. It was soft, but cold, as touching snow that had just fallen. 

Minseok took the stags, and the animal helped him to stood up once again. While getting up, the exhaustion slowly disappeared, his wings fluttered once again, his knees bent, his head didn’t hurt anymore.

The deer walked apart from him, and while doing it, Minseok realized that there was water on the floor, the blue deer kept walking without looking back until Minseok put a foot on the water.

It froze.

The blue deer stared deeply at him.

It started snowing. But Minseok wasn’t cold.

“Winter.”

  
  
  
  


Minseok’s hair went completely white, and then he woke up in the arms of Jongdae, who looked at him astonished.

“Your… hair” — Jongdae managed to say. “Is white.”

“I know” — Minseok replied. “I think I saw the Spirit of the Forest.”

“What?” — Jongdae asked feeling out of place.

“Jongdae” — Minseok looked at Cerberus. “Can you summon one more thunder?” — Jongdae nodded quickly.

“Not as powerful, but I can”

“One more thing” — Minseok said, getting up, drawing his sword, leaving the case on the floor. His eyes were blue when he looked at Jongdae. “Do you trust me?” 

“Completely.” 

“Let’s kill that thing”

As a reminder of how all of this started snow-in-summer created a path wherever Minseok flew carrying Jongdae with him. Minseok’s eyes kept shining the most outstanding shade of blue. What’s going on, Jongdae thought, did he really saw the Spirit?

Jongdae’s doubts stopped as soon as he saw Minseok’s sword, once a normal iron human sword, but now it’s blade was made of another completely different material: Ice.

The elf started crowding more clouds around, waiting for Minseok to give him a signal to release the whole storm.

“Minseok…” — Baekhyun said from the back, being treated by Yixing.

“I can’t believe my eyes” — Yixing muttered. “He is using magic.”

“We raised him well, Xing” — Baekhyun said with his usual mischievous square smile.

Cerberus used his claws, and the fire from his two operative heads against Minseok, but his ice won’t melt, his determination won’t fade, his eyes won’t turn brown until he has ended this nightmare, until he has helped Jongdae to free his Kingdom and himself from this punishment.

Just as he did the first time the encountered the Cerberus, Minseok dodged every paw, claw, teeth that the beast decided to throw at him, the grown didn’t matter anymore thanks to his wings, the fire didn’t matter.

Just like in the Spirit realm, it started snowing.

Jongdae’s hands trembled. _ Snow? _

“Keep going!” — Minseok yelled at Jongdae, encouraging him. “Keep going, Dae”

Jongdae wanted to keep going, but what he saw paralyzed him, Minseok didn’t realize, so focused on his task, on his new powers and regained strength that the tiara appearing on his head went unnoticed. The silver threads covered his head entirely, fitting just right, they were adorned with little petal flowers, that looked just like snow-in-summer flowers, and right in the middle where both of the main strands of silver collided a half moon with moonstone glowing in the middle.

  
  
  


The Winter King had arrived.

  
  
  


Minseok used his wings to get himself under the beast one more time, escaping by little the mouths of the Cerberus and it sharps teeth. Cerberus kept moving, trying to get to where Minseok went, but he wasn’t as fast as at the beginning of the match, tired and without one of his heads, Minseok proved to have more speed and determination. He didn’t really know how he did it, but he summoned the winter revolving inside of him and the weather obeyed, the water splashed everywhere thanks to the Undine helped to make the frost even stronger. The Salamander had warned them not to touch the core directly, and even if his strongest ice wouldn’t last more than a minute, it was enough for Minseok to shout at Jongdae.

“Now, Dae!” — the fairy flew away from behind the growling Cerberus when Jongdae summoned his last thunder, thanks to the crack created by Kyungsoo and Jongin it crossed the whole body of the Cerberus, making it fall instantly. The green on his eyes fading away until they became pitch black once again, like they should’ve stayed.

Jongdae, with his golden crown, looked in awe at Minseok, standing right besides him, looking at the gone beast.

“Aran nîn” — Jongdae whispered, bowing his head.

“...my...what?” — Minseok asked with his usual gummy smile, making Jongdae chuckle. The elf simply pointed to his head, waiting for the fairy’s reaction.

Minseok first touched his hair, and then noticed the cold metal over his head, covering it entirely, fitting his size, made for him.

“... my King?” — Minseok stuttered while asking, and Jongdae nodded, with a radiant smile showing on his face.

“I told you, the Spirit brought you here because we were lacking of you.” — Jongdae kept chuckling, Minseok couldn’t believe it. 

“It has to be a mistake” — Minseok said. “I can’t be the Winter King.”

“The Spirit won’t make such a mistake” — Jongdae caressed softly Minseok’s hair, closing the space between each other.

Minseok raised his head to look at Jongdae. There was nothing else besides him, right there, the sounds of their friends celebrating the victory seemed far and distant, the giant body lying a few meters from them was out of his view reach. And Minseok didn’t care, If he had to only look at Jongdae for the rest of his life, he would accept the deal gladly, specially now that he looked so free, radiantly smiling only for him, touching his hair like he would melt under his fingers. 

Minseok’s cold hand moved by itself, caressing Jongdae’s hand while the other one grabbed the elf’s back making them even closer until both of their lips crashed together, Jongdae’s hands cupped Minseok’s face, strongly, not wanting the fairy to let go, not wanting to ever end the kiss, he knew that as soon as they parted he will miss it as much as his lungs would miss the air he breathes.

When it happened both Kings looked at each other and laughed, completely out of themselves, their noses still touching, the corner of Jongdae’s lips against Minseok’s, their cheeks shining in delight as much as his eyes cried pure love.

“So this is how autumn tastes like” — Minseok whispered to Jongdae kissing softly his knuckles, still really close to one another.

“Spring, it's how spring tastes like” — Jongdae answered.

* * *

**That same winter.**

“It’s been a long time since I saw snow in the Mother Tree” — Jongdae said, hugging Minseok from the back, while placing his head on the fairy shoulder.

“Get used to it, every winter while I live will have snow” — Minseok answered with a bright smile on his face.

“Baekhyun is going to get mad at you, Chanyeol hates cold” — Jongdae joked, leaving a soft peck on the others cheek.

“Baekhyun can go visit Chanyeol for the winter, a volcano cottage sounds very romantic” — Minseok laughed softly.

Winter came after autumn like every other year round, but this time for the first in twenty years, cold, snow and frozen waters were more than a mere anecdote. Minseok had a hard time at first, controlling his powers, finding the balance — here Yixing has a lot of merit — and not freezing almost everything he touched, but after a few months of crazy autumn, he managed to create an enjoyable winter, he was really proud of himself, but Jongdae is even prouder.

The elf had devoted himself to sleep, much like a bear during winter, recover himself from all the mana he had lost during the years, while creating from scratch new Sacred Guardians and teaching Minseok how to rise a barrier. He had been a great teacher, patient and caring, but also demanding. The same way he behaves as a lover.

Sometimes the Winter King feels the pressure of the title, of his position and his powers, at times like that the human that still lives under his skin remembers a certain window that looked at the sea, Minseok knows that he has a lot to learn about his powers, about being a King, a ruler, and a role model for an entire country of magical creatures, but he is sure of something; as long as Jongdae keeps laughing as loud as the thunders he summons, hugging him with the warmth of the summer and loving him as softly as spring makes the flowers bloom he will be alright.

He has no doubts about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was one wild ride, i feel weirdly happy about this piece, i honestly hope that you, that kept reading until this very end, liked it too.
> 
> leave a comment (and a kudo) telling me what you liked the most (or what you liked the least, that's cool too, but please be nice), if the cutest King ever aka Jongdae, or the cool Winter King Minseokkie, maybe you liked michievous Baekhyun, who knows... (i like all of them hahaha)


End file.
